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Ma Junren claimed the phenomenal success of his athletes was down to consuming caterpillar fungus, turtle’s blood and powdered seahorse.

Ayana’s methods may well be legitimate but, given the doubts over anti-doping procedures in Ethiopia, it was controversial, to say the least. The fact that Jama Aden, the coach of some of Ethiopia’s most high-profile athletes, was recently found with drugs in his hotel room only added to the intrigue.

Sportsmail understands that her rivals questioned whether Ayana would even compete because she was coughing and spluttering in the call room.

Ayana raises her arms as she crosses the line to win the first athletics medal of the Games

Sarah Lahti, who finished 12th and set a Swedish record of 31:28.43, said: ‘I do not really believe she is 100 per cent. It is too easy for her. We see no facial expressions.’

Pavey was amazed at how fast the race was, with 18 women setting personal bests and eight national records. Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya, was almost 15 seconds adrift, taking silver in 29:32.53 and Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba was third in 29:42.56.

‘You don’t think the Chinese records will ever go,’ said Pavey, ‘You don’t think of them as records really. I couldn’t compete with that pace, even when I was in my prime. It was absolutely unbelievable.

‘You can’t say anything unless you’ve got any proof, you’ve just got to admire performances until you know differently. Unfortunately this sport’s had a lot of dark days in the past few months. You just have to hope you can believe what you’re seeing.’

Pavey, at 42 Britain’s oldest ever track athlete at an Olympics, finished a very creditable 15th, but she was lapped after 15 laps of a 25-lap race.

‘You don’t ever want to get lapped,’ she said. ‘But you don’t expect it to happen so soon. I didn’t know what to think as they came flying past.’

Sarah Lahti was outspoken about gold medal winner Ayana following the race

Britain's Jo Pavey (centre) made history by competing in her fifth Olympic Games

It was a sight to behold as Ayana went it alone, breaking away and speeding up even when it seemed going into another gear was an impossible task. She ran the second half in 14min 30sec, quicker than the Olympic 5,000m record, in only her second competitive race over 10,000m.

In the BBC commentary box marathon world record-holder Paula Radcliffe was staggered by what she had seen. ‘I’m not sure that I can understand that,’ she said, ‘When I saw the world record set in 1993, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. And Ayana has absolutely blitzed that time.’

Brendan Foster was also shocked. ‘You see things pushed along sometimes — you think of Bob Beamon in the long jump,’ he said, ‘but I’m not sure what to make of that.’

Ayana, whose previous PB was over 30 minutes, insists she is 'crystal clear'

Former world 5,000m champion Sonia O’Sullivan, who competed in the era of Ma’s army, went further. ‘She’s broken a world record by 14 seconds,’ she said. ‘That’s a record many people have questioned for many years. It was set 23 years ago by the Chinese. How can you break the world record so easily like that and not look very tired after it?

‘When world records are being beaten by the length of a straight you have to question it a little bit.’

Ayana defended herself. ‘Three things,’ she said. ‘Number one, did my training. Number two, I praise the Lord, he is giving me everything. And my doping is my training, my doping is Jesus.